Martin Romberg


Martin Romberg is a Norwegian composer. He is one of the most active orchestral composers in his generation in Scandinavia. He is mostly known for his J.R.R Tolkien and fantasy literature inspired orchestral and choral works.

Biography

Being born to a working-class family in Oslo, Romberg early moved out of Norway to study classical music at the university of Vienna, Austria. Breaking the bond with modernist tradition and his composition teacher Michael Jarrell, he embraced neo-romanticism from 2006.
His works has since been published by Éditions Billaudot in Paris and interpreted by numerous orchestras in the world including The Astana Symphony Orchestra, The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, The Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, Orchestre national Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon, Akademische Orchestervereinigung Göttingen, Mittelsächsische Philharmonie, Orchestre régional de Normandie, Orchestre régional Avignon-Provence, Orchestre de Pau pays de Béarn, Telemark Kammerorkester, Nizhni Novgorod Philharmonic orchestra, Archangel State Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, The Saint-Petersburg Northern Synfonia Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Russian Camerata, Scarborough Symphony Orchestra and Nizhni Novgorod Soloists.

He now lives between southern France and Norway where he is currently the musical director of the Rose Castle in Oslo.

Style and Music

Romberg has been associated with the neo-romantic current of composers in his generation in Scandinavia and has on several occasions collaborated with the Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum.
He believes that J.R.R. Tolkien's concept of mythopoeia can be transferred to western classical music to infuse it with new energy, and has used the term Fantasy Music to describe his own music.

Collaborations

He has on several occasions collaborated with other artists, notably the Norwegian electronica band Ulver conducting their live orchestral shows on stage, among others the MG_INC Orchestra and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. In 2015 his one and a half hour long oratorio "Homériade" based on the mythic texts by the contemporary Greek poet Dimitris Dimitriadis, featuring Robin Renucci and the Orchestre régional Avignon-Provence, closed the 69th Avignon Festival. As a conductor he has worked with London Session Orchestra recording his own albums "Norse Mysteries" and "Scandi Drama" at Abbey Road Studios.

Works

Orchestra